CIOInsider India Magazine
Apple Reports Greater Profits Helping Wall Street Ease Sharp Losses
Apple and other big US companies reported greater profits than expected on Friday, which helped Wall Street ease its sharp losses from the start of the week.
Morning trade saw a 0.7 percent increase in the S&P 500. Despite plunging Monday on concerns that the artificial-intelligence boom that has driven it to records might not require as much investment as previously believed, it is still on track for a 0.2 percent weekly gain. As of 10:57 a.m. Eastern time, the Nasdaq composite was up 1.4 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17 points, or less than 0.1 percent.
After posting a higher-than-expected profit for the most recent quarter, Apple helped lead the market and saw a 1.4 percent increase. The most valuable business on Wall Street, which has the most impact on the S&P 500 and other indices, reported a decline in iPhone sales. However, the company's services divisions, like AppleCare and its app store, saw record-breaking revenue.
KLA, an electronics provider, saw a 3.5 percent increase in value following the release of earnings and revenue that above analysts' projections. It recovered more of Monday's steep 6.3 percent decline, attributing it to growing expenditures in high-performance computers and artificial intelligence.
The upheaval made people wonder if all of the anticipated investments in data centers, energy, and AI chips were actually necessary.
Despite plunging Monday on concerns that the artificial-intelligence boom that has driven it to records might not require as much investment as previously believed, it is still on track for a 0.2 percent weekly gain.
After an update on the inflation metric that the Fed chooses to employ came in nearly exactly as experts had predicted, Treasury rates remained largely unchanged. Late Thursday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell slightly from 4.52 percent to 4.51 percent.
Since September, yields have generally increased as the US economy has held up far better than analysts had anticipated. More recently, rates have also increased due to concerns about tariffs and other potential measures from President Donald Trump that could increase inflation and the US government's debt.
